"already a woman of high status before marriage and owned much land. Edward the Confessor, who had been crowned king by this time, favoured pious acts of this nature and granted a charter confirming Leofric and Godiva's gift. According to the popular story, Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation. She appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to remit the tolls. At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the"
"Lady Godiva Godiva, Countess of Mercia (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English Godgifu, was an English noblewoman who, according to a legend dating at least to the 13th century, rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants. The name ""Peeping Tom"" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which a man named Thomas watched her ride and was struck blind or dead. Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia."
"Godiva Procession The Godiva Procession is an annual procession in the city of Coventry, England, which re-enacts the story of Lady Godiva. They have been held in Coventry since the 17th century. The first written record of the Godiva Processions is in the Coventry City Annals of 1678. These celebrate and re-enact Godiva's legendary naked ride through Coventry, undertaken to persuade her husband to free the people of the city from the burden of oppressive tolls. Although Godiva certainly existed, the historicity of the ride itself is debated. Godiva, or Godgifu, meaning 'God's Gift', was the wife of Leofric, Earl"
"in the county named Norton. ""Juxta"" is Latin for ""near"", and Twycross is a small village approximately 2 miles southeast of Norton. The village of Norton is thought to have been founded in the 8th or 9th century by the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred granted the village a charter in 951, referring to it as ""Northton"" The village is listed in the Domesday Book as ""Norton"", and the Lord of the Manor was recorded in both 1066 and 1086 as Countess ""(Lady)"" Godiva, widow of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, famed (legendarily) for riding naked around the streets of Coventry."
"whatsoever"". A modified version of the story was given by printer Richard Grafton, later elected MP for Coventry. According to his ""Chronicle of England"" (1569), ""Leofricus"" had already exempted the people of Coventry from ""any maner of Tolle, Except onely of Horses"", so that Godiva (""Godina"" in text) had agreed to the naked ride just to win relief for this horse tax. And as a condition, she required the officials of Coventry to forbid the populace ""upon a great pain"" from watching her, and to shut themselves in and shutter all windows on the day of her ride. Grafton was"
"Bonnie Godiva created her stage name from a combination of the names of Lady Godiva and Bonnie Elizabeth Parker. In the second episode of season 7 of the television show Charmed, titled ""The Bare Witch Project"", the main characters meet Lady Godiva and protect her from an evil baron. Lady Godiva Godiva, Countess of Mercia (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English Godgifu, was an English noblewoman who, according to a legend dating at least to the 13th century, rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission"
"Abbatiae de Evesham"", or ""Evesham Chronicle"", she was buried at the Church of the Blessed Trinity at Evesham, which is no longer standing. According to the account in the ""Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"", ""There is no reason to doubt that she was buried with her husband at Coventry, despite the assertion of the Evesham chronicle that she lay in Holy Trinity, Evesham."" William Dugdale (1656) says that a window with representations of Leofric and Godiva was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II. The legend of the nude ride is first recorded in the 13th"
"an ardent Protestant and sanitized the earlier story. The ballad ""Leoffricus"" in the Percy Folio (ca. 1650) conforms to Grafton's version, saying that Lady Godiva performed her ride to remove the customs paid on horses, and that the town's officers ordered the townsfolk to ""shutt their dore, & clap their windowes downe,"" and remain indoors on the day of her ride. The story of Peeping Tom, who alone among the townsfolk spied on the Lady Godiva's naked ride, probably did not originate in literature, but came about through popular lore in the locality of Coventry. Reference by 17th-century chroniclers has"
"Queen"" was led to the sacred Cofa's tree, perhaps to celebrate the renewal of spring. The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, attended only by two knights. This version is given in ""Flores Historiarum"" by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes, who quoted from unnamed earlier writers. Other attempts to find a more plausible rationale for the legend include one based on the custom at the time for penitents to make a public procession in their shift, a sleeveless"
"white garment similar to a slip today and one which was certainly considered ""underwear"". Thus Godiva might have actually travelled through town as a penitent, in her shift. Godiva's story could have passed into folk history to be recorded in a romanticised version. Another theory has it that Lady Godiva's ""nakedness"" might refer to her riding through the streets stripped of her jewellery, the trademark of her upper class rank. However, these attempts to reconcile known facts with legend are both weak; in the era of the earliest accounts, the word ""naked"" is only known to mean ""without any clothing"
"town. Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should keep within doors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair. In the end, Godiva's husband keeps his word and abolishes the onerous taxes. However, known facts do not corroborate the legend. Bishop Robert de Limesey transferred his see to Coventry ""c."" 1095, and in 1102 papal authorisation for this move also turned the monastery of St. Mary into a priory ""and"" cathedral. The subsequent rebuilding and expansion of St. Mary's was completed about 125 years later."
"the 17th-century Quaker Solomon Eccles who went nude through the City of London with a burning brazier on his head. At 7:00 PM on 5 July 1799, a man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter. He confirmed that he had accepted a wager of 10 guineas (equal to £ today) to run naked from Cornhill to Cheapside. The first recorded incident of streaking by a college student in the United States occurred in 1804 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) when senior George William Crump was arrested for running naked through"
"from the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I, are commemorated on a memorial in the city, and are known collectively as the Coventry Martyrs. Cornelius Bongey Cornelius Bongey (or Bungey) (died 19 September 1555) was an English Protestant martyr who was burnt at Coventry in September 1555. Little is known of his life, except that he was a capper (or hatmaker), and that he was accused, and did not deny, that he “did hold, maintain, argue and teach” a range of Protestant beliefs, suggesting he was a lay preacher. He was tried before the Bishop of Lichfield and sentenced"
"Coventry and the surrounding area. It is likely they were interrogated either at the bishop’s manor at Maxstoke, or at the Greyfriars monastery in the city itself. Those who confessed were forced to sign an abjuration, to be read by the accused bare-legged and bare-headed in the Cathedral. However, the bishop’s campaign appears to have been unsuccessful, and the following year nine people were burned in the city, most of them individuals who had abjured and done penance the previous year, but had since returned to their sincerely-held Lollard views. Records suggest that the possession of Protestant literature, and of"
"of Mercia. Apart from references to her donations of land and gifts, there are no mentions to Godiva in contemporary chronicles. The first mention of the ride was over 150 years after her death, and appeared in Wendover's Flores Historiarum in 1190, though this survives only in a fourteenth-century manuscript. In 1217/18 Henry III granted the Charter for the Great Fair in Coventry, the event with which the Godiva Procession came to be associated. The charter stated that the fair was to begin on the feast day of the Holy Trinity, and continue for eight days. Such a fair would"
"with prisoners processed from Newgate Prison in the City, via St Giles in the Fields and Oxford Street. After the late 18th century, when public executions were no longer carried out at Tyburn, they were carried out at Newgate Prison itself and at Horsemonger Lane Gaol in Southwark. The first recorded execution took place at a site next to the stream in 1196. William Fitz Osbert, populist leader who played a major role in an 1196 popular revolt in London, was cornered in the church of St Mary le Bow. He was dragged naked behind a horse to Tyburn, where"
"usually played by a scantily clad actress or dancer, and the occasion often attracted controversy. For instance, in 1854, the Bishop of Worcester protested against ""a Birmingham whore being paraded through the streets as Lady Godiva."" These annual processions were enlivened by constant rumours, beforehand, that the girl playing the part of Lady Godiva would actually appear nude, like the original. These hopes were eventually realised in a play staged in 1974, at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, entitled ""The Only True Story of Lady Godiva"", in which Lady Godiva appeared naked, riding a motor bike. The celebration has been revived"
"innocent"", it would not, they declared, ""be esteem'd indecency for him to walk naked unto his habitation"". Three days before the pretended resurrection the government, fearing disturbances, and to prevent any tricks being played, placed guards at the grave and about the cemetery. Thomas Emes Thomas Emes (died 1707), known as ""the prophet"", was a quack doctor and millenarian who practiced as a surgeon among the poorer classes of England. In the hope of obtaining notoriety he allied himself with the Camisards. He died at Old Street Square, London, 22 December 1707, and was buried on Christmas Day in Bunhill"
"John/Eleanor Rykener John Rykener, also known as Eleanor (fl. 1394), was a 14th-century transvestite sex worker arrested in December 1394 for performing a sex act with another man, John Britby, in London's Cheapside. Although historians tentatively link Rykener to a prisoner of the same name, the only known facts of his life come from interrogation made by the mayor of London. Rykener was questioned on two offences: prostitution and sodomy. Prostitutes were not usually arrested in London during this period, while sodomy was an offence against morality rather than common law, and so pursued in ecclesiastical courts. There is no"
"pubs closed, Friday and a friend, Rod Lewington, went to an all-night club called Churchill's where they could continue drinking. When they entered, Friday, wearing a long overcoat and hobnail boots, walked onto the dancefloor and removed the coat to reveal that he was wearing nothing underneath. He then began to dance, completely naked apart from the boots. Although Churchill's, described by Lewington as ""the worst club that has ever been in Reading"", tolerated such behaviour, the town's fashionable Sindlesham Mill nightclub did not, regularly barring Friday for his bizarre activities, including a dance he invented called ""the elephant"" which"
"sometimes considered an early work by William Shakespeare. The Ordeal of Queen Emma by Fire at Winchester is a legend that seems to have originated in the 13th century. Queen Emma was accused of unchastity with Bishop Ælfwine of Winchester. In order to prove her innocence, she was obliged to undergo the ordeal of walking over nine red-hot ploughshares placed on the pavement of the nave of Winchester Cathedral. Two bishops conducted the barefoot Queen to the line of red-hot ploughshares. She walked over the red-hot ploughshares, but felt neither the naked iron nor the fire. William Blake did an"
"Constantine Overton Constantine Overton (1626/7—c1700?), was an English Quaker leader, trading as a grocer, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Imprisoned and fined for his beliefs, attendance at Quaker Meetings for Worship, refusing to pay tithes to Church of England parishes, and not taking off his hat in Court and opening his shop on 25th of the Twelfth month (i.e. Christmas Day). . Sometimes known as ""Constant Overton"". His first prosecution, during the English Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell, was by a Church of England priest who objected to the outdoor preaching of Quakers meeting outside the parish church of Cressage near Shrewsbury"
"a noble English lady who rode naked through the streets of Coventry. The song was covered by The Fatima Mansions as a single. Lady Godiva's Operation ""Lady Godiva's Operation"" is a song by American avant-garde rock band The Velvet Underground, appearing on their second album, ""White Light/White Heat"" (1968). The lyrics of the first half of the song (sung by John Cale) describe Lady Godiva. The lyrics of the second half (sung by Cale alternating with Lou Reed) are full of oblique, deadpan black humor and describe a botched surgical procedure. Cale plays electric viola while lead guitarist Sterling Morrison"
"from the reign of Charles II (d. 1685). The same writer felt the legend had to be subsequent to William Dugdale (d. 1686) since he made no mention of it in his works that discussed Coventry at full length. (The story of the tailor and the use of a wooden effigy may be as old as the 17th century, but the effigy may not have always been called ""Tom"". See 1773 date below, and the alternate suggested name ""Action"".) W. Reader dates the first Godiva procession to 1677, but other sources date the first parade to 1678, and on that"
"pretended, indeed I could not learn. This event is corroborated in the 29 July 1667 entry of the ""Diary of Samuel Pepys"" (vol 13). Pepys confirms that the person described as such is a Quaker. … a man, a Quaker, came naked through the [Westminster] Hall, only very civilly tied about the privates to avoid scandal, and with a chafing-dish of fire and brimstone burning upon his head… crying, ""Repent! repent!"" Eccles was a Quaker, a man prosecuted numerous times during the Restoration for civil disobedience. He would worship with other Quakers. The law that was passed in the early"
"Cornelius Bongey Cornelius Bongey (or Bungey) (died 19 September 1555) was an English Protestant martyr who was burnt at Coventry in September 1555. Little is known of his life, except that he was a capper (or hatmaker), and that he was accused, and did not deny, that he “did hold, maintain, argue and teach” a range of Protestant beliefs, suggesting he was a lay preacher. He was tried before the Bishop of Lichfield and sentenced to death. Bongey was burnt to death at Coventry for heresy on 20 September 1555, together with Robert Glover. They, and ten other such martyrs"
"escape were caught and killed. Many men, horses, and much of the baggage were cast into the canyon below. The chronicler William of Tyre, writing between 1170 and 1184 and thus perhaps too long after the event to be considered historically accurate, placed the blame for this disaster firmly on the amount of baggage being carried, much of it reputedly belonging to Eleanor and her ladies, and the presence of non-combatants. The king, having scorned royal apparel in favour of a simple pilgrim's tunic, escaped notice, unlike his bodyguards, whose skulls were brutally smashed and limbs severed. He reportedly ""nimbly"
"reported that ""a well dressed man was detected, near Lombard-street, in an unnatural crime, and immediately committed to the Poultry Compter."" On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening, at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House and sent to the compter. He confirmed that he had accepted a wager of 10 guineas (equal to £ today) to run naked from Cornhill to Cheapside. Prisoners were not segregated and conditions in the small gaol were described as poor. In 1776 William Smith said it was a place where ""riot, drunkenness, blasphemy and debauchery, echo from the walls,"
"from Chester to London"" (1782) recounted how ""the curiosity of a certain taylor overcoming his fear, he took a single peep"". Pennant noted that the person enacting Godiva in the procession was not fully naked of course, but wore ""silk, closely fitted to her limbs"", which had a colour resembling the skin's complexion. (In Chester's time around 1782 silk was worn, but the annotator of the 1811 edition noted that a cotton garment had since replaced the silk fabric.) According to the ""D.N.B."", the oldest document that mentions ""Peeping Tom"" by name is a record in Coventry's official annals, dating"
"Hildegund (virgin) Hildegund (died 1188) was a German woman who lived under the name Joseph disguised as a male in a monastery. She is often described as a saint (feast day April 20), though her cult has never been formally approved. Her father, a knight of Neuss in Germany, took the 12-year-old Hildegund on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land upon her mother's death. For her protection during the voyage, he dressed her as a boy and called her Joseph. The father died on the way back, and Hildegund was robbed and abandoned in Tyre by the man charged with"
"procession, led for the first time by a nun, with 23,000 school children in the parade, and hundreds more dressed as various historical characters. In 1919, Lady Godiva appeared in the full dress robes of a Saxon countess, with even her horse wearing trousers. This was Miss Gladys Mann, the first Coventry girl to act the role. The first time a non-actress rode in the procession was in the Coventry Hospital Pageant in 1929, when Muriel Mellerup from Gloucestershire was Lady Godiva. The first Post war Godiva pageant was in 1951 for the Festival of Britain. There were sixty tableaux"
"neighbouring Warwickshire in 1016, Cnut's attack on a monastery at Coventry is possible. Leofric's 1043 Coventry charter relates that the abbey was dedicated to Osburh (as well as St Mary, St Peter and All Saints), though this could potentially be a later addition. Osburh was said to rest at Coventry in the 12th-century resting-place list of Hugh Candidus. She is mentioned the 13th-century Scandinavian ""Ribe Martyrology"", which gives 21 January as her feast-day. According to a description of Coventry's relics made in 1539, her head was enclosed with copper and gold. Osburh of Coventry Osburh (or Osburga) was an Anglo-Saxon"
"give the story more than one image. The depiction in the 12th-century English Eadwine Psalter has a naked female swimmer in the water, holding the empty ark with one hand, while a clothed female with her feet in the water holds out the baby to the princess, who reclines on a bed or litter. This is part of some 11 scenes of the life of Moses. This may relate to the Jewish visual traditions covered below. The artist of a French Romanesque capital has enjoyed himself showing the infant Moses threatened by crocodiles and perhaps hippos, as often shown in"